Ed Davey calls for government to ban Kanye West from UK to stop him headlining Wireless
Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey MP has joined the calls for Kanye West to be removed from Wireless Festival and called for government intervention.
Earlier this week, the London festival confirmed that West, who has not performed in the UK for more than a decade, will headline all three nights of the event at Finsbury Park in July.
The shows will be West’s first in the UK since he declared that he was a Nazi on social media and also released a song titled ‘Heil Hitler’ in 2025.
In one particular social media tirade in February 2025, West wrote on X, “I LOVE HITLER NOW WHAT BITCHES. IM A NAZI. I SAY WHATEVER THE FUCK I WANT PUSSIES.”
Now, during a press conference held on April 2nd, Davey was asked by an LBC reporter about whether the “concert should still go ahead” amid West’s history of antisemitism.
The MP for Kingston and Surbiton responded, “Let me deal with Kanye West first; this is extremely serious. This is a person who wrote a song saying “Heil Hitler”, praising Adolf Hitler. I can’t think of anything more antisemitic.”
Davey continued, “The Australian government has earlier banned him from going to Australia because of antisemitic hate speech, and we should too. The Home Secretary should ban him from coming to this country.”
He added, “We’ve got to take antisemitism more seriously; we can’t have people like him with that horrible song coming.”
Davey is the second major politician in the UK to speak out against West headlining Wireless after Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said on April 1st, “The past comments and actions of this artist are offensive and wrong, and are simply not reflective of London’s values.”
Khan also clarified, “This was a decision taken by the festival organisers and not one City Hall is involved in.”
Additionally, the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), the UK’s leading charity fighting antisemitism, criticised the booking in exclusive comments made to Far Out.
A spokesperson for the charity said, “Kanye West has dedicated years of his life to trying to incite his followers to hate Jews. He has more followers than there are Jews on Earth, so his incitement has a huge impact. His cycle of apology and relapse has become a routine, so as with any addict once again we must wait to see if this time is any different.”
They also highlighted that West’s apology “came on the eve of the release of a new album”. The rapper took out a full-page spread earlier this year in The Wall Street Journal, apologising for his actions, blaming them on a brain injury and bipolar.
West wrote in his apology, “I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.”
West, who returned to the stage at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on April 1st, is also set to perform stadium shows in the Netherlands, France, Spain and Portugal as part of his upcoming European tour this summer.
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